Hawaii’s Mountains – Here’s a link to the live web cam on the summit of near 13,800 foot Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii. This web cam is available during the daylight hours here in the islands…and when there’s a big moon shining down during the night at times. Plus, during the nights you will be able to see stars, and the sunrise and sunset too… depending upon weather conditions.

Aloha Paragraphs

A cold front remains stalled to the southeast of the Big Island…
with a cool northwest flow of air over us in its wake, keeping the
islands a little chilly for a while longer with generally fair weather
in place…although very hazy locally!Winds will turn around to the northeast and east Wednesday, and
then turn further around the compass to the southeast and south
Thursday…warming things up as we go

The next cold front will approach the islands Friday into Saturday…
followed by more cool north to northeasterly breezes through the
weekend, along with windward showers – then anotherpossible cold front arriving next Tuesday or so

High surf Warning…north and west shores of the islandsfrom Kauai to Molokai – north shores of Maui

Small Craft Wind Advisory…coastal and channel
waters locally

Wind Advisory…Big Island summits

The following numbers represent the most recent top wind gusts (mph), along with directions…as of Tuesday evening:

The relatively cool north to northwesterly breezes that we have now, will give way to warmer trade winds later Wednesday…then southeast and south breezes will arrive ahead of the next cold front Friday into Saturday. Here’s the latestweather map, showing the Hawaiian Islands, and the rest of the North Pacific Ocean. Here’s a real-time wind profile of the central Pacific…centered on the Hawaiian Islands. ~~~ We continue to see a host of low pressure systems far northwest through northeast of the state, with an associated cold front trailing to the south and southwest…stalled just to the southeast of the Big Island. Meanwhile, we see high pressure systems offshore well to the northeast of the state and northwest, which have their associated high pressure ridges extend east and west towards the state. Winds will generally be light from the north through northwest for the time being. Our winds will gradually become light trade winds as we move through the mid-week period. The trades will gradually shift back to the southeast and south Thursday, as the next cold front approaches the state Friday. Our winds will veer to the north and northeast in the wake of the frontal passage…shifting back to the southeast and south ahead of yet another possible cold front next Tuesday.Satellite imageryshows a large area of bright white clouds more or less stationary over the eastern islands, with lower level clouds trailing behind over Kauai. The high and middle level clouds over Maui County and the Big Island, will slip down over the Big Island exclusively into the night. The lower level clouds streaming in behind the old cold front, will keep Kauai and Oahu locally cloudy in places.Here’s thelooping radar image, showing the leftover showers associated with the cold front to the southeast of the Big Island…staying offshore. There are a few light showers elsewhere, although drier air continues to flood into the state now. Looking at this largersatellite image, which is in the looping mode, we can see this still wide band of bright whiter clouds, which are middle and higher level clouds, trying to thin out…although not making much progress in that regard. The lower level stratocumulus and cumulus clouds to our west, are generally dry, and not shower producing features.

The latest forecast models continue to suggest that we’ll see yet another cold front approaching the state, with unsettled weather Friday into Saturday morning…followed by somewhat wet trade winds along our windward sides through Sunday.The best weather days this week will be Wednesday through Thursday. It will still be chilly Wednesday morning, although as the trade winds return into Thursday morning, temperatures will moderate some. Looking a bit further ahead, after the showery trade wind weather Saturday into early next Monday, the models are pointing out another cold front that may arrive around next Tuesday. This early next week cold front is quite a ways out into the future, so we’ll want to hold it lightly, in terms of our degree of certainty…stay tuned. I’ll be back again early Wednesday morning with your next new weather narrative, I hope you all have a great Tuesday night wherever you’re spending it! Aloha for now…Glenn.

Here on Maui, at the 3,100 foot elevation, at my upper Kula, Maui weather tower, the air temperature was 50.5 degrees at 610amon this Tuesday morning. It’s just now getting light enough, that I can see streaky high clouds overhead, which will dim and filter our morning sunshine. This stuff is taking its time moving eastward, away from us, although it will finally clear out later today, hopefully. The good thing is that our recent cold frontal precipitation will be taking a break for several days. I expect a pretty nice day weatherwise today and Wednesday, and probably through most of Thursday too. As I was noting above, the next cold front arrives Friday, with better weather again during the second half of the upcoming weekend, into the very first part of next week. Then, and this has become quite normal this winter, yet another cold front may arrive next Tuesday, a week from today.

~~~ It’s now almost 10am, with clear skies, and departing clouds…with a few low clouds collecting along the slopes of the Haleakala Crater. The air temperature is nice 63.7 degrees, with little if any breeze that I can detect at the moment. It’s such a nice day in fact, that I’m making tea, in anticipation of taking it up the mountain…to commune with nature this morning. I’ll be packin’ my skateboard of course, and putting myself to the test once again. I’ll be back a little after noon, so I can get back online, and provide you with your next update. I hope you have a great morning wherever you happen to be spending it!

~~~ Hi, it’s early afternoon, at 150pm, under partly to mostly cloudy skies, along with some pretty thick haze too. I don’t think this is volcanic haze from the Big Island, although it may be smog that has been carried our way from somewhere in Asia. The air temperature is 65.5 degrees, with near calm winds. I just got back from skateboarding up on the western slope of the Haleakala Crater. The weather up there, about 15 minutes up the road from where I live, was foggy and cool, not exactly what I had hoped for. I made the best of it however, and got in some good runs, and once again, without a fall. I’m about ready to ask my neighbor if she wants to play some ping pong, which we typically do a couple of times each day. I have an outside table on my deck, which is a wonderful thing!

~~~ We’ve gotten into the early evening now, at 520pm, under partly to mostly cloudy skies…and lots of haze. I can see that down in the Central Valley its quite sunny, although the sun is being muted quite a bit by the haze. The air temperature up here in Kula was 61.5, which is pretty cool for this time of day. It was warmer down near sea level, at the Kahului airport, with a 76 degree reading at near the same time. I don’t see anything that would get in the way of our generally ok weather through Wednesday, and probably most of Thursday. Whatever kind of haze that we’re seeing now, and its pretty outrageous just before sunset…will be augmented with vog Thursday into Friday.

Interesting:250 Million Pounds of Toxic Beads at Mardi Gras – Will you be celebrating Mardi Gras today, or are you more concerned about the environmental and ethical impact of 250 million pounds of plastic beads imported from China?

A Christian holiday with origins in Europe, Mardi Gras, meaning “Fat Tuesday” in French, is recognized as a day of indulgence before the beginning of the penitential season of Lent on Ash Wednesday.

250 Million Pounds of Toxic Beads

But there is a dark underside to the Mardi Gras festivities.

Every year, an estimated 25 million pounds of plastic beads make their way to New Orleans.

The beads are central to the ritualized gift exchanges of Mardi Gras season, a multi-day series of parties and parades that brings an estimated million revelers to the streets for what is sometimes called “the Greatest Free Show on Earth.”

Members of Mardi Gras “krewes,” the private social organizations that stage the parades, spend thousands to purchase the shiny baubles before flinging them to crowds who beg for them with the exclamation, “Throw me something, mister!”

These beads from China are made from toxic waste the U.S. ships off, and are likely to end up in the bodies, landfills and water supply of the citizens of New Orleans.

As WWLTV.com reports:

“There isn’t a system in the body that isn’t affected by lead,” said Dr. Howard Mielke, a Tulane toxicologist who has been studying lead levels in the city for many years.

Dr. Mielke, along with the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based non-profit group HealthyStuff.org and Dr. Holly Groh, a founder of VerdiGras in New Orleans, studied beads from China. They found lead and an array of toxic and cancer-causing metals and chemicals, including bromine, chlorine, cadmium, arsenic, tin, phthalates and mercury.

Add that to the lead the beads pick up from the city ground and hands — especially those of children — that end up in mouths, and there can be permanent brain damage.
At least one of the harmful chemicals was found in 90 percent of the beads at levels higher than allowed by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

“Basically, if you have lead exposure early on in childhood, it does change the ability throughout life,” Dr. Mielke said.

Anything unusual about typhoon Faxai near Guam?~~~Hi Djengis, that’s another good question. Tropical cyclones that typically generate down to the southeast of Guam, head west or northwest. This typhoon has take a northward track, and is now tracking more towards the northeast, as we see. It will push into the prevailing westerly wind flow over the next couple of days, losing its tropical characteristics…and become a gale low in the mid-latitudes. Here’s a good satellite image from NASA, that shows this strong typhoon to the northeast of Guam. You know it caught my eye too, this north and northeast direction, although I kept waiting for the Joint Typhoon Warning Center to mention something about this, although I’ve seen nothing. Therefore, I’d be reluctant to call it too unusual…which is the nature of your question. Here’s a weather map showing Typhoon Faxai far to the west of Hawaii. It may eventually be able to send a northwest swell in our direction. Aloha, Glenn

Aloha Glenn,I have been noticing haze, such as today and the winds are out of the west and not associated w/vog. I looked at all levels of the “wind profile and all levels are coming out of the west. Is this Smog from Asia?~~~Hi W Nash, you know, I’ve read about haze/smog arriving here in the islands…from Asia before. I’m a bit surprised to see this stuff in our skies too, and I certainly have my doubts about it being vog from the Big Island. I can’t say for sure, although I do have my suspicions. I don’t like to think of breathing in smog that has come across the Pacific from China or wherever! thanks for your question, its a good one. Aloha, Glenn